1/2 Orc Assassin... OMG, what an awesome solo!

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Wow, these guys are total powerhouses!

The 19 STR really offsets the single-classed Thief THAC0. Since they advance so quickly in levels, the lower amount of Thief Skill Points doesn't matter one bit, and they can do anything!

I'm considering using Crom Faeyr as an offhand weapon when I get UAI! wow!

 

I'm taking it you've never played the original BG, used tomes and then exported a character then?

 

Well Half-orcs can have 19 STR and CON right at the start, so tomes are not neccesary. I think.

I agree half-orcs are pretty darn strong. Especially at the beginning of the game 19 STR really helps in melee. Assasin is good class too, for 7x backstab (GASP!) and far too powerful poison attack. I heard some rather interesting tid bit about assasin's poison attack, it sure is powerful. I believe you can solo the vanilla game with little trouble. Go for it!

 

I believe you can attack wizards that have stoneskin active and still poison them right?

 

Yessss, and that is what makes the kit really deadly. Though, if the mage has protection from magic weapons, I guess this stops the poison too? And I think liches are immune to poison, never tried though.

The best part is, even when the victim makes his saving throw vs poison, (in all likelihood) they still suffer poison damage. I read in one guy's strategy guide, he used Arrows of Biting with Poison attack (they stack, and you can use your poison in ranged weapons too!), on drows. The drows suffered so much damage per second that they could not walk, they all suffered and died, or so he says. Sounds cool!

Another thing, if you dual to a mage or cleric, you can use your poison attack via spell-created weapons: try poisoned Melf's Mintue Meteors, Black Blades of Disaster; or better, Energy Blades, with that many attacks per round, it will be really ugly!

 

Poison is considered elemental damage so I believe that you're correct.

From a powergaming viewpoint, the half-orc's possible 19 CON is not that big a deal for the single-class assassin - a 16 CON will result in the maximum hit point bonus for thieves. Since the girdle of hill giant strength is available so early in the game I don't think the possible 19 STR is that big a deal either, except for Chateau Irenicus. If I were playing a single class assassin I would rather have a dwarf, halfling, or gnome for the saving throw bonuses, or an elf or halfling for the stealth bonuses.

On the other hand, from a roleplaying viewpoint I've always liked half-orcs. There's something about the big bad fanged bruiser that's always appealed to me.

 

Half-Orc assassins aren't even fair in BGTutu. That 19 strength is a huge bonus so early in BG, and poison in BG pretty much owns everything. Backstab + poison with huge bonuses to hit and damage with the 19 strength, if the backstab doesn't kill them outright, the poison nearly always does (as they usually fail their saving throw to boot!)

 

Use SK to make the old 1st edition AD&D Half-Orc Fighter/Assassin -- this guy was just too powerful to have any fun with.

 

The tomes would give you a 20 Str and a 20 Con (regeneration); well worth the trip.

 

Well worth it for the regeneration. The difference between 19 and 20 strength is only one measly point of damage per hit. 19 is +3 to hit, +7 to damage, whereas 20 is still +3 to hit, and +8 to damage.

 

Well 20 CON's regeneration is neat, but you can live without it I guess. However, 19 DEX will give nice bonuses to thief skills, if there is a DEX tome in BG1 too, ofcourse.

 

There is indeed a Dexterity Tome. In fact there's a Tome for all of the stats. Wisdom has 3 Tomes.

 

^That is...really encouraging to play BG1, you can have some serious god-like stats!

Assasins does not benefit from CON higher than 16, so 19 CON is not top priority IMHO, if you have spare points and plan to get CON tome to reach 20 CON, go for it, a little regeneration won't hurt. (besides it is cool!)

 

Indeed you can- the Wisdom Tomes are why you hear people talking about having 21 Wisdom by going through BG1.

Regeneration in BG1 is more useful than in BGII, so if you have the stat points to go for it, you should. This is probably influenced by my playing style- I tend to rest rarely often, so I play with two clerics to ensure I have enough healing to actually complete the dungeon! Regardless of how often you rest, I believe regeneration is still very useful to have- you won't be finding that much in the way of regenerative equipment (my memory may have missed one).

 

There is no regenerating equipment in BG1. In fact, I do not believe there are even any regeneration potions. (Besides, even if they were, healing potions are so much cheaper.)

The 3 Tomes of Understanding (which raise wisdom by one point) are HUGE advantages to the cleric.

18 Wisdom: +2 first level spells, +2 second level spells, +2 third level spells

21 Wisdom: +3 first level spells, +3 second level spells, +3 third level spells. +1 4th level spell, +1 5th level spell.

(I may be off slightly here. You may get +2 3rd and 4th level spells - I'm not entire sure on that. But still, getting any bonus 4th and 5th level spells make it a very nice bonus, even if you won't be able to cast 5th level spells as a cleric in BG1.

 

I never understood why there were 3 tomes of wisdom and just one tome of all the rest.. why so many wisdom tomes? perhaps the creators loved clerics and druids...

 

Look at all the junk you go through in BG: watching your only family get murdered; being thrust into the outside world from a sheltered monestary; fighting off assassination attempts at every town you stop; trying to find the dark figure who murdered Gorion; coming to grips with being a godchild...if you ain't found wisdom somewhere along the way, you're SoL!

 

Or maybe they recognized that they gave their priestly NPCs middling WIS scores (on a powergaming scale, anyway).

 

SoL??

Well besides extra spells for the cleric, you get lore bonus, but I don't recall how big it is.

 

SoL = S*** otta Luck